Batting in the fourth innings at The Oval is usually a tough job. There’s no doubt India face a daunting target of 444 after Alex Carey (66 not out) and Mitchell Starc (41) took their second innings to 270/8 declared.
However, they are still not out of the contest yet, reaching 164/3 at stumps on Day 4 of this World Test Championship final. Thanks largely to Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.
What bodes well for India is the grit and doggedness of both Kohli (44 batting) and crisis-man Rahane (20 batting), India’s rescuer in the first innings, in their so far unbroken stand of 71 for the fourth wicket.
Will India be able to do an encore of their historic January 2021 Brisbane Test win over Australia? With still 280 to get on the final day, it’s going to be a steep task for both Kohli and Rahane.
But what’s also good for India is that The Oval pitch hasn’t really been tricky so far, while the Australian quicks haven’t been too consistent either, dishing out too many boundary balls.
The Indians got off to a brisk start, scoring at almost six an over initially which certainly soothed the nerves in their camp. Australia’s senior-most quicks, captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, sprayed the ball all around the park much to the delight of openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.
Unfortunately for Gill, an outstanding but contentious catch from Cameron Green at gully off Scott Boland’s bowling gave Australia the breakthrough they were looking for. From one angle, it did look that the ball had touched the ground, but the television umpire upheld the on-field umpire’s decision.
Despite losing Gill at the stroke of tea, the intent from skipper Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara, with a fair amount of help from the Australian quicks’ lacklustre bowling, did raise India’s hopes. But just when it mattered, Nathan Lyon had Rohit lbw. It was a shot which the India captain could easily have avoided.
In the very next over, it was a double delight for the Australians as Pujara gave his wicket away to Cummins, attempting an upper-cut. Maybe it was a little too early for Pujara to show that kind of an intent, especially when India still had 351 more to get.
Earlier on Saturday, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami kept the Australians under a leash on the fourth morning, with the former taking the ball just a bit away to have overnight batter Marnus Labuschagne (41) taken sharply by Pujara at first slip. Australia did look a little nervous at that stage as their lead was still short of 300.
Though Green, the other overnight batter, continued to look a tad tentative, Carey was positive from the onset as the duo pushed on Australia’s lead past 300. But just as the partnership had somewhat calmed Australian nerves, Ravindra Jadeja made India believe again as repeated deliberate padding from Green eventually cost the Australian all-rounder his wicket.
Holding nerves to help the lead go past 370 at lunch, Carey and Starc, with a little bit of fortune, batted with a fair amount of precision to stitch a crucial 93-run stand in their seventh-wicket partnership which certainly helped the Australian camp feel safer.
